Motivation in Organizations

Are You Happily Productive or Productively Happy?

• “If you’re not happy doing what you do on a daily basis …

you’ll just be getting things done for the sake of getting
things done.”
• —Productivity consultant Sara Caputo M.A
 Chapter Outline
 The Nature of Motivation
 Need-Based Perspectives on Motivation
 Process-Based Perspectives on Motivation
 Learning-Based Perspectives on Motivation
 The Nature of Motivation
Motivation is the set of forces that causes people to engage in
one behavior rather than some alternative behavior.
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 ELEMENTS OF PERFORMANCE
P=M+A+E
To reach high levels of performance, an employee must
want to do the job well (motivation);
must be able to do the job effectively (ability); and
must have the materials, resources, equipment, and
information required to do the job (environment)

A deficiency in any one of these areas hurts performance.

The Motivational Framework
We can start to understand
motivation by looking at need
deficiencies and goal-directed
behaviors.

A need is anything an individual

requires or wants.
 PERSPECTIVES OF MOTIVATION

Historical Perspective
Need-Based Perspective
Process-Based Perspective
Learning-Based Perspective
 Historical Perspectives on Motivation
Historical views on motivation, although not always accurate, are of
interest for several reasons:

 they provide a foundation for contemporary thinking about

motivation
 they generally were based on common sense and intuition
 Historical Perspectives on Motivation
The Traditional Approach
Scientific Management
-Frederick Taylor
-He advocated incentive pay
systems
-As one basic premise of this
approach, Taylor assumed that
employees are economically
motivated and work to earn as
much money as they can.
Economic Gain is the primary
thing that motivated everyone.
The Human Relations The Human Resource
Approach Approach
-assumed that employees want -assumes that the
to feel useful and important,
that employees have strong contributions
social needs, and that these themselves are
needs are more important than
money in motivating employees valuable to both
individuals and
The illusion of involvement and organizations
importance were expected to
satisfy workers’ basic social
needs and result in higher
motivation to perform.
NEED-BASED PERSPECTIVES ON MOTIVATION

-assumes that humans are motivated

primarily by deficiencies in one or more
important needs or need categories
 The Hierarchy of Needs
-developed by
psychologist
Abraham Maslow
-assumes that human
needs are arranged in
a hierarchy of
importance
 ERG Theory
-developed by Yale psychologist Clayton Alderfer
-extends and refines Maslow’s needs hierarchy concept
The E, R, and G stand for three basic need categories:
 Existence needs—those necessary for basic human survival
 Relatedness needs—those involving the need to relate to
others
 Growth needs are analogous to Maslow’s needs for self-
esteem and self-actualization
 Difference of Maslowe’s and Alderfer’s

Hierarchy of Needs ERG Theory

- believed that each need level -suggests that more than one kind
must be satisfied before the of need motivate a person at the
level above it can become same time
important -includes a satisfaction-
progression component and a
frustration-regression component
 The Dual-Structure Theory
-originally called the “two-factor theory”
-developed by Frederick Herzberg and his
associates
 The traditional view of satisfaction
suggested that satisfaction and
dissatisfaction were opposite ends of a
single dimension.
 -motivation factors affect one
dimension, ranging from satisfaction
to no satisfaction
-Motivation factors are intrinsic to
the work itself and include factors
such as achievement and
recognition.
-hygiene factors are assumed to
affect another dimension,
ranging from dissatisfaction to
no dissatisfaction
-are extrinsic to the work itself
 Other Important Needs
1. The NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT is most frequently
associated with the work of David McClelland
-This need arises from an individual’s desire to accomplish a
goal or task more effectively than in the past.
Individuals who have a high need for achievement tend to
set moderately difficult goals and to make moderately risky
decisions.
 Other Important Needs
2. The NEED FOR AFFILIATION
-need for human companionship
3. The NEED FOR POWER
-the desire to control one’s environment, including
financial, material, informational, and human resources
 PROCESS-BASED PERSPECTIVE ON MOTIVATION

-are concerned with how motivation occurs rather than

attempting to identify motivational stimuli
-focus on why people choose certain behavioral options to
satisfy their needs and how they evaluate their satisfaction
after they have attained these goals.
Three useful process perspectives on motivation are the
equity, expectancy, and goal-setting theories.
 The Equity Theory of Motivation
-is based on the relatively simple premise that people in
organizations want to be treated fairly
-focuses on people’s desire to be treated with what they
perceive as equity and to avoid perceived inequity

Equity is the belief that we are being treated fairly in

relation to others; inequity is the belief that we are being
treated unfairly in relation to others.
 The Expectancy Theory of Motivation
-suggests that people are motivated by how much they
want something and the likelihood they perceive of getting
it
-developed by Victor Vroom
The Basic Expectancy Model
The model’s general
components are
effort (the result of
motivated behavior),
performance, and
outcomes.
The Basic Expectancy Model
Expectancy theory
emphasizes the
linkages among these
elements, which are
described in terms of
expectancies and
valences.
The Basic Expectancy Model
Effort-to-
performance
expectancy is a
person’s perception
of the probability
that effort will lead
to successful
performance.
The Basic Expectancy Model
Performance-to-
outcome expectancy
is a person’s
perception of the
probability that
performance will lead
to certain other
outcomes.
The Basic Expectancy Model
An outcome is anything
that might potentially
result from performance.
The valence of an
outcome is the relative
attractiveness or
unattractiveness—the
value—of that outcome
to the person.
 The Porter-Lawler Expectancy Model
-provides interesting insights into the relationships
between satisfaction and performance
-that satisfaction is determined by the perceived equity of
intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for performance
That is, rather than satisfaction causing performance,
which many people might predict, this model argues that it
is actually performance that eventually leads to
satisfaction.
 LEARNING-BASED PERSPECTIVES ON MOTIVATION

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or

behavioral potential resulting from direct or indirect
experience.
 How Learning Occurs
The Traditional View: Classical Conditioning
-developed by Ivan Pavlov in his famous experiments with
dogs
-a simple form of learning in which a conditioned response
is linked with an unconditioned stimulus
 How Learning Occurs
The Contemporary View: Learning as a Cognitive
Process
-generally views learning as a cognitive process; that is, it
assumes that people are conscious, active participants in
how they learn
 Reinforcement Theory and Learning
- also called “operant conditioning”
-is generally associated with the work of B. F. Skinner
- In its simplest form, reinforcement theory suggests that
behavior is a function of its consequences
 Types of Reinforcement in Organizations
Reinforcements are the consequences of behavior.

1. Positive reinforcement is a reward or other desirable

consequence that a person receives after exhibiting
behavior.
2. Avoidance, or negative reinforcement, is the
opportunity to avoid or escape from an unpleasant
circumstance after exhibiting behavior.
 Types of Reinforcement in Organizations
3. Extinction decreases the frequency of behavior by
eliminating a reward or desirable consequence that follows
that behavior.
4. Punishment is an unpleasant, or aversive, consequence
that results from behavior.
 Schedules of Reinforcement in Organizations

Schedules of reinforcement indicate when or how often

managers should reinforce certain behaviors.
 Social Learning in Organizations

-occurs when people observe the behaviors of others,

recognize their consequences, and alter their own
behavior as a result
 Organizational Behavior Modification
Learning theory alone has important implications for
managers, but organizational behavior modification has
even more practical applications. Organizational behavior
modification is an important application of reinforcement
theory some managers use to enhance motivation and
performance.
 Organizational Behavior Modification

-is the application of reinforcement theory to people in

organizational settings